Innocence Project pointed out mistake in 1984 case, which apparently allowed new suspect to commit another slaying

The wrongful conviction of a man who served 23 years in prison for a 1984 homicide may have helped a different man remain free to commit another homicide in 1991.

The Wisconsin Innocence Project, which last year freed Robert Lee Stinson from prison in the 1984 murder, announced Monday it had developed DNA evidence identifying a new suspect in the slaying.

The Innocence Project did not name the new suspect. But it is believed that he has been in prison since 1992 for having committed another homicide in Milwaukee County in 1991.

Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern also would not identify the suspect but said Monday he expects to decide soon whether to file charges him against him in the '84 homicide.

Lovern said that although scientific evidence at the time strongly indicated Stinson's guilt, new scientific techniques have since discredited that analysis and are much more precise in identifying suspects.

Stinson was found guilty by a jury in January 1985 of the 1984 stabbing death of his Milwaukee neighbor, Ione Cychosz, 62.

Then 20, Stinson was sentenced to life in prison.

In January 2009, a judge freed Stinson from prison after the Innocence Project, a program of the University of Wisconsin Law School, raised doubts about bite-mark evidence that was crucial in Stinson's trial.

The bite-mark evidence was developed by Daniel Blinka, a prosecutor at the time, and dental scientist L. Thomas Johnson, both of whom now work at Marquette University.

Johnson said after Stinson's release from prison that he had recently retested much of the evidence from the trial using modern techniques and came to the same conclusion.

But four experts gathered by the Innocence Project said the bite marks on Cychosz could not have come from Stinson's mouth.

Last July, the Milwaukee County district attorney's office said it would not put Stinson on trial again.

In its announcement Monday, the Innocence Project said new DNA testing it paid for proves that the bite marks on Cychosz came from the newly identified suspect, who lived in Milwaukee at the time of her slaying, and that the suspect has since signed a written confession after being interviewed recently by an investigator who works for Stinson.

Stinson, 45, is now represented by Loevy & Loevy, a Chicago law firm, and is seeking compensation from the state for his conviction in the 1984 homicide.

Innocence Project attorney Byron Lichstein said in a statement that the case demonstrates the need for systemic reform of forensic sciences such as bite-mark identification, which was crucial in Stinson's conviction.

"Faulty forensic science is one of the main causes of wrongful convictions," Lichstein said in the statement.

The new suspect's DNA sample was one of those that had not been collected after a new state law took effect in 2000, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Linda Eggert.

After a backlog of uncollected DNA samples was discovered last fall, the Department of Corrections found that the sample of the new suspect was one of those missing, Eggert said.

His DNA was entered into the state databank last November, she said.

The suspect is eligible for parole in the 1991 slaying in 2017, Eggert said.